Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-11-13
4 Glimpse at The Past and View Of lho
Prc,rnl Of This Paper.

4 CITY is known 10y its newspapers. Far
and wide over the land the sheets from
iAc printngprcss fy. mirroring to Their
rs,ders the life Of the community whence
they come. The ADVERTISING columns
reflect the business; the editorial, news,
and local al-picture society. The hum oi
the MACHINERY in the manufactures, the
push" Of the merchant Offering ms
wares. the whistle of many railroad
trains coming and going of numerous
steamers arriving and departing. and The
hurry and hustle of the great thorough
fares If trade, all may be- well imagined
iv the stranger who takes up a repre-
sentative paper. And there is IN general
that sort of mutuahty in the matter that
rs grows the press, so grows the city
as expands the city, socxpauds theprcss.
The Diepatch has cndeavored to keep
Is place in this wcll-scttlci order, and
while ii has not done all it wished TO DO,
nd yet hopes to do, in the way of pro
.ross. it feels that its constituency must
feel some interest in its affairs, and must
he glad to hear that it is preparing itself
70 do Richmond better service than ever
5.fore.
THF pRrSs.
The press when it was taken to typiiy
the great business of editing and pub
abng was a rude and tediously-slow
niece of machinery more TO he com
uared with the machines OF to-day than
the stage-coach of a hundred years ago
With a lightning exprcss.train, or the
.isnal fires of Homeric times with hte
lecraphs and telephones Of this hap
rer age. Century after century has the
rluting press been improved until now
f, really seems that there is an invention
which Will keep pace with modern pro-
cr,ss
The type-setting Of today is done
rretiy much as It has been Tor ages
FIR human intelligence cc-the quick
.rs,u. the swift hand, the ready eye
ro alcauate substitute has ever been
found and thousands of cOmpostors
DOW ind employment where there was
ial of only hundreds some years
lk The increasing intelligence oI
0rr pouulation demands more reading
tt.r. Every sprightly man wishes to
..1w today what happened throu8hou'
iae world yesterday. Hence have come
into life press associations, special cor
r,.pondents. editors, and reporters lnuu-
morlle. What happened in Chicago
Yesterday YOU desire to read tins morn
ING or not nj all. You wish 10 have q
Glance ~ Yesterday European affairs al
tbcNew York stock market, at the reports
from Washington. and above all YOU ar'
Dterestedin Richmond and Virginia. I(
collcct al this matter, shape II, au1
transmit It to It's deatmation d
tbe work Of an army of men. Even L
the richest journals (and the, LohIoi
TmCs, for instance, Is valued a' -
OOO OOn 10 cover the world without thes'
agencies would be impossible ~i'hou
the co.operative systcm-the press a'So
cations. sc. Nc. Every night bctveci
and . or 3 o'clock al tins matter l
coming 20 the editors aud with 1t vas
amount of local work, of country cor
rcspondcnce. &C. 10 weed ont here, I
amplifv ard explain there, to edit
"head." "sll bead, and put the manu-
scyirt "cory into the com, -ltor;
hands is great work; always, too,
hurried wOrK.
Reaching the composing room th
foreman, or his assistants, cuts NJ
"copy into short "takes' Ipio. S
and to each of the twenty, thirty, ,
forty comp0sitOrs, rs the case may be,
take is given, which when set up IN tyI
is showed into galley, whence II goes
the proof press When the proof
read and corrected then all the type TIN
las been set is assembled into form
pages, enclosed in an iTontrdme wol
md made ready for the press.
TuE RUSH.
II is now several hours past midnigh
Very likely L is near daybrcak. III
mailing clerks and the news agencies al
clamoring for their papers to 90 oil !
the early mails; carriers by the SEQ
with loud and angry voices "demar
their papers," AID there IS great hurl
and worry.
The problem TO be solved is how
keep opea your forms 10 the latest .po
sible hours for telegraphic and loc
news and then print off your edition
time 10 catch the earliest outgoiT
trains in time TO be put into the han'
of carriers, who will take them befo
the breakfast hour to subscribers all ov
the city and suburbs.
This is what has pinched the ingenul
Of man-of thousands Of men, indee
Long ago the stereotyping procee
offered partial solution. Plates can
made on thetype, and you may have tw
four, six, twelve presses all going at u
same time all printing the same shee
But this multiplication OF presses req9lr
much room, many hands, vast trouble.
The Dispatch was long printed first
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